North Somerset Labour Party marked the beginning of Spring at the Nailsea Farmers Market this Saturday, speaking to voters about Labour’s plans for a fairer, greener future.  

With Easter only weeks away and nature emerging from its winter sleep, many people in North Somerset are concerned by the impact of the climate crisis on extreme weather, biodiversity, famine, and conflict.

The Labour Party, determined to deliver a fairer, greener future for Britain, has a five-point plan:

1. A proper windfall tax on oil and gas companies to use excess profits to support families with the cost of living;
2. Great British Energy – a new publicly owned company to give us energy independence;
3. A National Wealth Fund ­to invest in the jobs that can rebuild Britain’s industrial strength, attract private investment in our ports, gigafactories, hydrogen, and protect our steel industry;
4. Warmer Homes scheme – to upgrade Britain’s cold, draughty homes, cutting bills and creating thousands of good jobs for electricians, engineers, and construction workers across the country; and
5. Clean Power by 2030 by investing in solar power, wind, nuclear, and green hydrogen.

On Saturday 16^th March members of the public were asked to choose which of Labour’s five policies they felt was most important by placing a sticker on the flipchart. 123 people stopped to take part. The most popular policy was Labour’s plan for clean power with 39% of the votes, followed by a windfall tax (30%), Great British Energy (15%), the Warmer Homes scheme (13%), and the National Wealth Fund (2%).

Clare Hunt, Labour’s District Councillor for Nailsea Youngwood, said: “Nailsea residents were very interested in Labour’s policies and thoughtful about where to place their sticker.” Cllr Hunt added that she “spoke to a Green voter who pledged to “look closely at the candidates and consider where best to tactically place my vote to help defeat Liam Fox.””

Dr David Punter, a Labour activist running the stall, found: “absolutely no support for the Tories in Nailsea — most people had had quite enough of Liam Fox, who they felt had abandoned North Somerset.” Passers-by were interested to hear that Labour was leading in polls of North Somerset and Dr Punter found: “several agreed that Labour is the only hope if we want to get rid of Liam Fox.”

Labour activist Ms Bhupinder Dularay found: “quite a few people expressed that they were pleased to see the Labour stall and contrasted it with the lack of Conservative presence in North Somerset.” Ms Dularay added that she spoke to “a few people who had always voted Conservative who after some discussion of the state of the Conservative party said they would think about voting Labour.”